Applicants waiting for jobs in front of FERA offices 1935

Ben, who was born in 1935, made this photo, 'Applicants waiting for jobs in front of FERA offices', and you can see the layers of time in the grey scale, like history itself being developed. It’s about the physicality of waiting. See how the figures are pressed up against the building, almost merging with it? It’s as if their hopes and anxieties are being absorbed into the very walls. The surface is grainy, each tiny speck a little piece of someone’s story. I keep coming back to the posture of the figure on the left. The way he’s leaning forward, hand outstretched, he is both there and not there. This reminds me of the work of Gordon Parks, who also captured the quiet dignity of people in tough circumstances. Art isn't just about what you see, it’s about how you feel, how it makes you think. It’s not a closed book, it is a beginning.